If you are a network defender, sniffing your own network helps you:

Unlike wired sniffing (where you generally see traffic destined for your MAC address or broadcast traffic), 802.11 sniffing operates over the airwaves. To capture traffic effectively, you must understand the three primary modes of a Wireless Network Interface Card (WNIC):

Here are some common commands used during 802.11 sniffing:

Several tools and techniques are used for 802.11 sniffing, including: